Hey, hey it’s a Saturdate!

So for lunch, we went to a cafe and had steak and portobello mushrooms on ciabatta bread. Mhmmmm it was so yummy! That and my cherry coke. =)

The berry dessert was okay too, a little too buttery for my taste (I admit I’m not much of a butter person). The berries were cooked perfectly though.

And then, it was a lot of walking around the mall. we went to a bunch of shoe stores and looked at some pairs. It’s quite funny that all the men sit down on some couches while us women go through racks and racks of shoes. I found a lot of cute pairs of shoes, but not the pairs that I needed. I was looking for a flat pair of walking sandals and a pair of black peep toes. Cole haan, Kate Spade, and Macy’s had a lot of nice heels that were classy (which I usually go for church and semi-formal wear). There were two pairs, one was a classic gray suede pointed flat shoe and the other was a lime green/beige peep toe. It was decently priced, but still too much for a pair that I was not planning to buy so it was time to walk away. :)

It was a bit of a drive and there were a lot of people, but it was a great saturdate!! I’m grateful that i didn’t have to do any driving, even if I do find driving relaxing. =) Friday night was awesome too, went to the local pub with some friends after work and had some spicy calamari and chicken tenders. I love the dip!! Getting off the car, there was a very nice sunset. We just had to soak that in. =)

Hello summer vacation! On to my research writing and review for my grad school stuff. Praying that the Lord shows me which school I should continue in, each school I’m considering has their pros and cons so I’m hoping for a clearer leading.

How are you going to spend your memorial day?

Ah, I have missed you my dearest kitchen!

My cooking has been reduced to friday nights, weekends and the occasional dinner or lunch dates! But, today, I actually got to relax after my final and got to cook my ziti meaty red sauce. I’ll assemble the rest in 6 hours. We’re having a potluck at my job and I would bring Filipino food, but it’s easier to just make pasta. =P

Tomorrow, the menu is… Baked Ziti and Pizza Wheat Squares. I’m making meat and vegetable squares so hopefully it turns out good. I was a little ditzy today and I forgot to get asiago/fontina cheese for the pizza squares. :( I like making pizza with different cheeses (I’m always at the cheese aisle even if I’m a cheese prude. :) ) I’m using thin cut italian sausages (all the way from Milwaukee) MHMMM!

What’s the special occasion you might ask? Well one of my friends graduated from nursing!! And we’re gonna celebrate during bible study. =] She’s worked real hard so she deserves good food tomorrow!

And in addition to that, my tres leches remix cake didn’t turn out so bad. I was worried when my quick grocery trip left me empty handed with regards to cream and half and half. But the substitute I used was actually quite decent, made the cake moist yet firm still. Gone in two days.

So for the summer… I’m going to try my hand at baking and cooking… other cuisines!

1. Baking - My list includes twix cakes, snickers cake, tiramisu, chocolate mousse, Rum cake with dried fruits in it, Panetonne, Panna Cotta, Limoncello cake, etc. This means a trip to the alcohol store and grab some stuff for baking. :)since i have yeast still from my siopao making, i will have to make foccacia bread and italian bread. =]

2. Cooking - I wanna experiment with marinades and meat/seafood. Also, I’m going to try and make Chicken biryani (my friend maryam’s recipe) and i want to make jamaican patties. And seared scallops on pasta, yummmm! oh and I have to play with that grill I got for Christmas hehe. I’m gonna try my hand to make real Louisiana food (beignets, gumbo, and crawfish here we goooo!)

3. Deserts - I’m gonna try to organize a halo-halo party for some friends from church, we’ll see. Also, i’m thinking of borrowing an ice cream maker because I’m craving for avocado ice cream and I think it’s expensive buy a pint for 7 dollars. :/ Since my lola (grandmother) used to make homemade ice cream anyway, i should try it. I’m definitely buying a huge mixer someday (if it stays in budget, of course. :) )

The weekend in a blur.

Quick entry because i still have a long night to go.

1. Pinterest - Because of pinterest, had a totally cool idea for the art exhibit that I am putting up for the kids on their graduation day all using recycled materials (thanks Costco!) and a friend who gave me his old house paints. Thanks to my two parents who were painting the things with me all afternoon. Pictures will be posted soon.

2. Book fairs -  I love book fairs and snagged 4 children’s books for really cheap. 50-80% off and they had Eric Carle and Lois Ehlert books on sale.

3. Farmer’s Market - I woke up at 830am, wore my spring dress and went out for some quality time. :) Got some huge strawberries and toasted almonds. Yummmm! :]

Okay, back to work. :|

A Tribute to Mint Green

Beautiful colors for spring! I am loving the pencil skirt ensemble (I am a fan of pencil skirts because i find them really classy.) i like lacy, knits and pastels or bright colors.

Since mint green is one of the colors for this spring, what will you rock? I have a spring dress that has lacy and macrame detail on it that I’m thinking of wearing this Saturday :) Looking forward to my farmer’s market date!

This makes the travel list!

Melrose Abbey, Scotland

I love anything antiquated and anything with a cemetery. There’s just so much cool things to find out in a cemetery, and no I’m not into ghost hunting. You find out so much things by looking at cemetery plots and this is something I learned growing up in the Philippines where we had Todos los Santos, every day after Halloween and my Grandma would drag us to visit my grandfather’s plot for the whole day. It was hot and there would be hundreds of people -_-, but it was fun because we would play with melted candlewax and jump of plots and meet relatives from how many degrees over.

When i visited my granduncle in Ohio (while he was still alive), he took me to a huge cemetery (awesome!) and I took a lot of photography there. There is a lot of family history in a cemetery and a lot of funny family names too! Also there was this famed ‘haunted’ ball that apparently moves but it looks fishy.

I just remembered this abbey while talking to a friend about traveling to europe someday and also saw the trailer for the new Tim Burton movie which I want to see! Yes, I think Tim Burton is quite the genius. I like movies and books with sort of a gothic mood to it, which explains why I like Nick Joaquin’s May Day Eve, Edgar Allan Poe, The hound of the Baskervilles, and wuthering heights (even if heathcliff is too whiny and emo for my taste.)

Speaking of books… I’ve recently acquired a decent copy of Little Women and I wanted to grab the Sherlock Holmes collection at Costco but the print size wasn’t something I particularly liked so I’ll have to look further. Aaaand, I met this guy who I discussed Chaucer with and it reminded me that I have to get a copy of The Canterbury Tales again since I don’t have my copy available here.

My father says I’m reading more non-fiction right now than he thinks I usually do. Unfortunately I agree with him. Fiction has the capability to take my imagination captive and since time is not a luxury for me right now (maybe ever lol), I would have to sacrifice my fiction books a little bit.

Preschool Castaways?

Picture from Cast Away

We had a training session for work and one question was asked, “What three things will you take if you get marooned in an island?”

It was quite interesting all the answers that came. It was a reminder that there is a bit of a difference between city and rural life, first world and third world life. Most of my team was thinking convenience so they thought of fishing kits and and a water desalination kit. Haha. I chose to bring a huge knife (machete) and a lot of rope. I made an economic assumption that the island would hopefully have coconut trees, wood and stones. :P One thing we all had in common was bringing someone, a partner or sorts, although our motives were all very much different. Most of us needed someone to talk the crazies out of our systems while some figured a man could do a lot of the work.

The point to all this was to be good improvisers. What if all you had was basics? How can you make use of those for your environment and all the inquiry areas? As a teacher, you must be both planner and spontaneous and that is a challenge one has to work with!

Welcome, Spring.

Posting blogs have been sporadic as of late, I’ve been really busy with schoolwork, work, internship, work seminars and bible study. It’s great (I do love the feeling of being busy).

Just a few updates:

1. I have went back to my knitting. I first picked up my first pair of knitting needles in high school for our home economics classes. Yes, we had a lot of those. I learned how to cook some good dishes there and how to debone a whole chicken. I learned how to knit, take care of babies and clean a house in those classes. I decided to start on knitting for two reasons: to have scarf supplies by next winter and to have something to do at home without television (I’m not much of a television person unless it’s historical, psychological, suspenseful, or literary. However, i do sit with my parents when they watch, so knitting does give me something to do while sitting and watching.) Bonus is that yarn is very much on sale! and that I bought a circular needle also. Hello, infinity scarves!

2. My two curriculum projects are underway. One of them is home-made art materials which will feature making our own paper, our own paintbrushes and our own paint. We started making our paper and so far, so good. My second curriculum is on trees and gardening. Children love it and teaching science to them is always well-received. Children are always curious about the concept of growth so we do a lot of research questions on those. I’m torn between planting a tree or doing some woodwork with them (really hoping it’s not a tree, it’s already been done so maybe something new). It would be pretty cool to teach the children how to make birdhouses (not much experience with a hammer but i did make trays and containers a few years ago). We’ll see how it goes; most of my preK projects are project approach so children definitely are leading it depending on their interests (read more on that Reggio Emilia Approach for more details).

3. I haven’t had the time for much cooking. Only get to do it at least once a week and mostly on friday nights for dinner. =) At least my deserts are doing great so far. I have a bagful of lemons that I’m contemplating what to make with (big tug to lemon squares).

4. I’m taking a conscious discipline class. I am liking it so far and this week, we’re talking about assertiveness. Definitely interesting!

5. Spring should start me on some spring cleaning. My room is definitely getting cluttered and it’s starting to drive me a little crazy. Closet and bookshelf looking organized as usual. O.o

6. PAPERWORK PAPERWORK PAPERWORK. There are days i am definitely feeling more like Martha rather than Mary, but I pray that I constantly prioritize Christ in everything I do.

7. Ending with a quote: “Teacher, I wish you’re more pillowy. Can you eat a bag of marshmallows or feathers, whatever’s more delicious for you. I need them to go straight to your legs by next nap time.” - one of my preK students